Monday, April 27, 2020

Poetry Monday: Place


Place

On the last day of the world
I would want to plant a tree

what for
not for the fruit

the tree that bears the fruit
is not the one that was planted

I want the tree that stands
in the earth for the first time

with the sun already
going down

and the water
touching its roots

in the earth full of the dead
and the clouds passing

one by one
over its leaves

W.S. Merwin

Over many years, W.S. Merwin planted trees on his land, an abandoned pineapple plantation on Maui.  He eventually concentrated on palm trees, especially rare species.  There are now varieties of trees growing there that grow nowhere else.

No comments: